


Moving On

by csichick_2



Category: CSI: NY
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-02-08
Updated: 2008-02-08
Packaged: 2017-10-17 12:48:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/177016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/csichick_2/pseuds/csichick_2
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Flack is sick of watching Danny do this to himself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Moving On

**Author's Note:**

> Contains spoilers for 4x11 "Child's Play" and 4x13 "All in the Family."

“Lindsay, it’s Flack. Yeah, Danny’s fine. Ruben’s mother stole Danny’s gun and tried to track down Ollie Barnes. He was trying to stop her. Look Lindsay, he still blames himself for everything. He’s pissed at me right now, but maybe you can get through to him. Um, yeah, see you around.” Don ends the call with a sense of relief. Lindsay was the last person he wanted to talk to, but he felt obligated to update her on her boyfriend. Danny and Lindsay – them as a couple was still a bitter pill for Don to swallow. His tryst with Devon only served to make the problem worse. In retrospect, it’s probably a good thing those high-tech robbers picked her as a target and it prevented him from getting Devon to bed. That would have been a nightmare. Most people assumed his unease with the couple was due to Don having feelings for Lindsay, which couldn’t be further from the truth. His problem is that Lindsay is dating his ex-boyfriend. He couldn’t be mad at her for it – after all she didn’t know. He and Danny did a good enough job of hiding their relationship that as far as they knew only to people knew: Stella, who gave them the final nudge in getting together, and Aiden, who had to bail them out of a few interesting situations. He knew that Danny, Like himself, was bisexual, so his being with a woman wasn’t the cause of Don’s unease, but rather the fact that he started to pursue Lindsay so soon after the two men broke up. He heads to the refrigerator as soon as he gets home. He figures a couple beers will help him forget about the happy couple.

*****

A knock on the door roused Don from his slumber at which point he realized he had fallen asleep in front of the TV, in his work clothes, and still on his first beer. He opens his door and is surprised to find Danny on the other side. AS he steps aside to allow the other man to enter, he realizes he is dealing with a drunk Danny Messer. A very drunk Danny Messer.

“I broke up with Lindsay.” Don can do nothing but stare at his ex-boyfriend. The two had seemed so happy.

“You what? Why?” He figures it’s the alcohol talking and that Danny will go running back to Lindsay for forgiveness as soon as he sobers up.

“I couldn’t take her mothering me anymore. You never would have done that to me, Donny. You always knew when I needed a little space.”

“Danny, Lindsay just cares about you. I’m sure you’ll feel differently in the morning.” Don is baffled by Danny’s laughing.

“You think I broke up with because I was drunk, don’t you Donny?” Don doesn’t respond to Danny’s inquiry, but does tense up slightly when Danny begins to close the distance between the two men. “I was sober when I dumped her, well mostly anyway. The drinking afterwards was to work up the balls to come here. I miss you, Donny.” Don’s breath hitches when he realizes that Danny is close enough to kiss him. He would love for that to happen, but he also doesn’t want to set himself up for disappointment.

“Let’s get you to bed, Danny. We can talk more in the morning.” If Danny’s still here in the morning, he muses. He half expects that Danny will bolt as soon as he realizes he slept in Don’s bed, even though Don intended to sleep on the couch.

*****

“Rise and shine, sleepyhead.” Don opens his eyes to find Danny staring down at him, looking way too chipper for a person that should be suffering from a major hangover. “I called Stella. She’s going to pull a few strings, which means we both have the day off. That way we can talk.” Don sits up, the mention of Stella’s name making him considerably more alert.

“What did you tell her?” He’s not sure he wants to know the answer, as Danny lives to make the woman blush sometimes.

“That you and I needed to have a serious discussion and that Lindsay would be unpleasant to work with.” Don raises an eyebrow at the second half of the statement. Danny’s presence in front of him is proof that he was serious about the breakup and it appears Lindsay didn’t take it well.

“She will, huh. I wonder what brought that on?”

“Very funny. We can talk over breakfast.” Don follows Danny into the kitchen, still feeling slightly uneasy. The two sit down over bowls of cereal and end up staring at each other, each trying to will the other to speak first.

“You really broke up with her.”

“Don, I wasn’t drunk enough that I was making things up.”

“I know that. But I figured once you sobered up you’d go running back to her.”

“Even if I wanted to, which I don’t, it wouldn’t be happening.”

“That so?”

“Yeah. How about I start at the beginning?”

“That would be nice, Danny. Especially since with the bits and pieces I do have I’m a bit confused,”

“So after I left you, I stopped by Sullivan’s. I was pissed and figured I’d knock back a couple beers before heading home. Lindsay was apparently waiting for me back at my apartment and went looking for me when I didn’t get back in what she deemed a reasonable amount of time. I know you called her.”

“Look, Danny, I…”

“I’m not mad at you for that. Had Lindsay not projected her mother-henning onto you, you wouldn’t have spent your day off checking up on me. Anyway, back to last night. And no more interruption, Don. Got that?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“After Lindsay found me, she almost literally dragged me out. I had just started my second beer at that point. We went back to her place because it’s closer at which point we argued over the fact that she was smothering me. I was pissed and I mentioned the fact that you knew when to give me space and never would have dragged me out of a bar like that. She of course wanted to know what the hell you had to do with anything and then it dawned on her. She wasn’t too happy when she realized her boyfriend has slept with men and said had she known I was gay, she never would have responded to my advances.”

“But you’re bi.” Don knew he wasn’t supposed to interrupt, but he couldn’t help himself.

“Well according to Lindsay, bisexuality is another form of denial. So it looks like we’re both up shit’s creek with her.”

“If we’re lucky, she’ll throw us a paddle. Think she’ll tell anyone?”

“Maybe Stella, but she knows anyway, so that’s not a problem.”

“So what happened after you and Lindsay argued?”

“We broke up – obviously. I stormed out and was halfway here before I realized where I was headed. I freaked out and picked the nearest bar. I hung out there until I worked up the balls to come here.”

“How many beers did that take?”

“I never said it was beer. Why’d you sleep on the couch.” Don is surprised by Danny’s question.

“Where the hell else was I supposed to sleep? It’s not like I can sleep in my bed when my ex-boyfriend is occupying it.”

“Hell Donny, I wouldn’t have minded.”

“What?” The surprise on his face becomes more evident as Danny reaches over and takes Don’s hand in his own.

“I meant what I said last night. I miss you, Donny.”

“Then why the hell did you move on so fast?” Don resists the urge to yank his hand away. He’s afraid that severing the physical connection will cause Danny to clam up.

“I was hurting, Don. I figured moving on would help ease the pain. And help me get over you.”

“Did you?”

“Get over you? Not completely. I don’t think that could ever be possible. What the hell happened between us, Donny?”

“Stress. Between work and hiding our relationship, we were both completely stressed out. And that’s what did us in.”

“Yeah, I guess. Do you think we could give us another shot?” Don blinks. That was the last thing he ever expected Danny to say. As much as he wants to say yes, a small part of him thinks it’s a very bad idea.

“Danny, as much as I want to say yes, I really don’t think I should. The same stressors would still be there and then some. Not to mention you and Lindsay just broke up and you showed up at my door drunk as a skunk. It’s a recipe for disaster.”

“First of all, Lindsay and last night’s state of sobriety have nothing to do with it. I really want this, Donny.”

“So do I. But I’m also afraid things will end u the same way as they did last time. And I can’t go through that again.”

“We don’t have to. We’re both older and hopefully wiser. Not to mention, we’ve both been through a lot more shit. If we figure out how exactly everything got fucked up last time, we can make sure we don’t repeat our mistakes.”

“It’s not that easy, Danny. We have a lot more to deal with than we did then. Not to mention, I don’t want to hide a relationship ever again.”

“We don’t have to.” Don raises an eyebrow. “I’m not saying we flaunt it, but we don’t have to hide it either.”

“You’d be willing to do that, Danny?” Don is surprised by this since Danny had always been more concerned about the repercussions should they be outed.

“Yeah. I really want this to work, Donny. I’m willing to do whatever it takes.”

“In that case, we may have a chance. But we have to set some ground rules first.”

“Uh, yeah, sure. Whatever you want, Donny.”

“First off, no sex for two months.”

“Wait, what?” Don can’t help but smirk at Danny’s reaction. Two months of celibacy will definitely be harder on him than it will on Don.

“You know as well as I do that we spent more time in the bedroom than outside of it. We need communication and that’s not going to happen if we’re jumping each other.”

“True. I suppose I can live with that. What other conditions do you have?”

“I talk to Lindsay, make sure she’s not going to give us any trouble. Workplace romance gone sour can be messy.”

“Yeah, that’s fine. She’d probably bite my head off at this point.”

“You think?” Don squeezes Danny’s hand affectionately. “I also think we should tell Mac. I’m pretty sure he figured you and Lindsay out, which means he might have known about us. Either way, he’ll be a good ally to have.”

“I’ll handle telling him. We should probably tell Hawkes too, so that he’s not the only one out of the loop. It’s not a pleasant position to be in.”

“That’s fine by me. And I’m going to assume you’re talking from experience there. You mind if I tell Jess? She was wondering what I was doing at work on my day off.”

“Jess is cool. Go for it. Any other conditions?

“Yeah. You talk to someone.”

“What do you mean?”

“Danny, I’m sick of sitting here watching you beat yourself up. Watching you blame yourself for Ruben’s death. I know stopping that’s not going to be easy, but talking about it should help. I don’t give a damn who you talk to as long as you don’t bottle it in.”

“Logically, I know I did what I thought to be the right thing. But emotionally, I can’t help but consider the what ifs. Ruben looked up to me and I can’t help but feel like I let him down. It’s hard to deal Don – I keep replaying that day in my head over and over.” Don scoots his chair closer to Danny’s and puts his arm around the other man in a half hug.

“I know it’s hard, but talking about it helps. I know it helped me deal with almost getting blown up.”

“I won’t talk to a shrink though.”

“That’s fine. You can talk to me or Stel, hell anyone you want.”

“I’ll try.” Danny turns in his chair so that he’s facing Don. “Anything else you want me to do?”

“Um, yeah.” Don drops his gaze to the floor. “I want you to meet my parents.”

“Uh, Don. Isn’t that jumping the gun just a little? Shouldn’t you tell them you’re bi before shoving your boyfriend in their face?

“I already did. It kind of slipped out when I was recovering from my run-in with a bomb. For about thirty seconds I wished the explosion had killed me until my dad said that being with a man wouldn’t exempt me from providing them with grandchildren. They’ll love you Danny.”

“If they don’t, it’s your funeral. And don’t think this means you get to meet my family any time soon.”

 

“That’s fine. You have any conditions you want to add?” Don starts regretting the question as Danny smirks.

“Yeah. I get to kiss you now.” Danny leans in until his lips are inches away from Don’s.

“Well what are you waiting for?” Don murmurs before closing the remaining distance and capturing Danny’s lips with his own.


End file.
